India to invest Rs.70,000 crore for raising its IMF quota

New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) The government on Friday presented in parliament a supplementary demand of grant of Rs.69,575 crore towards increasing India’s quota in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that will allow increased voting rights for the country at the IMF.

“After taking into account additional receipts of Rs.52,181.60 crore by issue of securities, monetising Rs.17,393.87 crore through India’s SDR (special drawing rights) holding with RBI and saving of Rs.2,618.94 crore available in the revenue section of the grant, this supplementary will not entail cash outgo,” said the supplementary demands for grants moved by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The IMF’s historic quota and governance reforms, that for the first time place four emerging market countries — Brazil, China, India, and Russia — among its 10 largest members, came into effect in January this year, after these were approved by the US Congress in 2015. They had been approved by the IMF’s Board of Governors in December 2010.

The reforms, pending for long, also increase the financial strength of the IMF, by doubling its permanent capital resources to SDR 477 billion (about $659 billion) from about SDR 238.5 billion (about $329 billion).

Other top 10 members of the 188-nation agency include the US, Japan, and four big European countries — France, Germany, Italy and Britain.

The reforms represent a major step toward better reflecting in the institution’s governance structure the increasing role of dynamic emerging market and developing countries, the IMF has said.

Currently, India has voting rights of 2.34 percent. In terms of quota, the country has a share of 2.44 percent.